"I like being in war zones," New York Times reporter Sharon Waxman recently told the New York Observer. "And Hollywood is a kind of war zone."
Waxman received some flak for this statement, but you might want to take a look at her brisk and dishy new book, Rebels on the Backlot, before passing judgment.
By Waxman's estimation, something exciting happened to film in the 1990s. While the studios were busy merging and un-merging, the six auteur directors she profiles here—Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights), David Fincher (Fight Club), Steven Soderbergh (Traffic), David O. Russell (Three Kings) and Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich)—took advantage of that corporate disarray, but they had to scrap while doing it, fighting with their actors (Russell) and forgetting old friends (Tarantino), doing a lot of blow (Anderson) but coming out on top with great movies in their wakes.
Waxman was in town recently, signing copies of her book at the Reading Room in Mandalay Bay.
Some of these directors have appallingly large egos. How did you put up with it all?
I wasn't expecting them to be feint. I was writing about artists. Artists are very interesting, complicated people.
I found it interesting that New Line was bankrolled by the Freddy Krueger films, while Live Entertainment, previously known as a porn video company, backed Reservoir Dogs. Does this mean these guys had to go to the wrong side of the tracks to get their movies made?
Let me make it clear: New Line is not shady. It was just driven by more purely commercial instincts. Being a businessman, Bob Shaye turned to genre to make money. As for Live, that was a video company, essentially, and you take money where you can find it.
Which director seemed like the most likable individual to you?
I developed a pretty good friendship with David O. Russell and really got to know him. He's extremely smart. Quirky. He wanted to tell the story of what happened on the Three Kings set (Russell reportedly got into a fistfight with George Clooney). [Clooney] had been walking around saying things about David. So he did talk to me about it.
And what did you think of David Fincher, the director of Fight Club? He doesn't give a lot of interviews.
I actually have to say that I also really loved getting to know David Fincher. In terms of interview time, he gave me eight to nine hours. He was so smart and so candid and so uncensored. That was a real discovery. People would tell me, "David Fincher is hilarious." And I was like, "Really?"
Now that studios have twigged to the appeal of independent cinema, will it be easier to make these kinds of movies or will it remain just as hard?
That struggle will always be the case for auteur films. The best example is Clint Eastwood, this huge star who has made so many millions of dollars for Warner Bros., but he couldn't get Million Dollar Baby made. This is a very moderately budgeted film. They didn't want to make it. He had to go and find financing on his own, and then he had to threaten to leave the studio he has been loyal to. They finally said, "Fine, we'll make it." But then they only put up half the money. He has said this story over and over. It embarrasses Warner Bros. but he doesn't care.